Post by Jennifer on Feb 17, 2009 11:49:40 GMT -5
We had our first calf for the spring yesterday (see Feb calving watch for picture). Suzy is a first calf heifer and fairly new to us. She was in labor (obviously contracting and pushing) for about 4 hours yesterday morning. I saw her lay down and the water bag came out then burst (thanks to a little help from the pain in the rear chickens) then she went another hour with no presentation. I couldn't remember how long they could go after the water bag popped so I scrubbed up and went to to feel for the calf. I felt two hooves with the head on top so I thought we were good. Another hour went by (constant contractions) with no presentation so DH scrubbed up and checked again. The hooves were at the same spot as before so he grabbed them and worked with her contractions to get them out then she labored again for awhile with no progress so he started working with her contractions to gently pull on the hooves. When the nose appeared we realized that instead of the calves spine being lined up at 12 noon to come out it was more like 9:30- 10:00 (shifted to the left if you were looking at her rear). I didn't know if this fell into the normal or not category and she had been laboring hard for so long we both started pulling with her contractions. I was very uncomfortable with this (having a not so swell birth fresh on my mind) but I knew she needed to make progress. We finally got the calf out but it took both of us pulling (and dh is very strong) while she was pushing. Can someone tell me if we should have just left her alone? How do you know when it's time to step in and help? We have calved out 4 heifers here before and this was definitely the hardest (and the only that was pulled). Any insight is appreciated. Thanks